PSYC2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ascidiacea, Avocado, Neural Development
Document Summary
Spatial localisation: we can tell where sound is coming from to some degree of accuracy. Sources combine additively, so how many sources and how are they segmented from each other: we do not typically experience this ambiguity we have a remarkable ability to combine sound in its complexity, what is sound. Sound is a repetitive change in air pressure over time: when talking you push air through a vibrating larynx, tuning fork compresses molecules and wiggles back in the other direction to cause a trough. It is a mechanical disturbance and requires a medium unlike light. 3 basic dimensions of sound: amplitude gives rise to the perception of loudness this is the height (measured in decibels) Frequency gives rise to the perception of pitch: purity complexity gives rise to the percept of timbre (colour) Cochlea is filled with fluid need to push fluid) Inner ear location of auditory receptors, frq analysis, transduction of physical signal to neural impulses.
